The present invention generally relates to image processing and, more particularly, to methods and systems for image processing in a multiview video system.
Image processing methods and devices have various applications, many of which may be applied to applications such as video surveillance, human motion analysis, traffic monitoring and other security-related purposes. Taking video surveillance as an example, closed-loop video monitoring systems have been used for security-related purposes over the past few decades. However, these systems may be limited to recording images in places of interest, and do not support analysis of objects or events. With the development and advancement in digital video and automatic intelligence techniques, intelligent monitoring systems based on computer vision have become popular in the security field. For example, intelligent surveillance systems may be deployed in airports, metro stations, banks, hotels, convenience stores and parking lots for identifying terrorists or crime suspects. A computer vision system may refer to one capable of automatically analyzing images taken by cameras without manual operation for identifying and tracking mobile objects such as people, vehicles, animals or articles.
Tracking moving objects may be a key problem in computer vision. Single-camera-multiple-object tracking may be simple in implementation but may be limited in scope of its applications. For example, it may be difficult for a single camera to provide adequate coverage of an environment because of limited field of view (FOV). To provide wider coverage of detection and robustness against occlusion, it may be necessary to have multiple cameras observing critical areas. Multiple-camera-multiple-object tracking may therefore be used in indoor and outdoor surveillance. Multiple cameras may also provide a more complete history of an object's actions in an environment. With the above-mentioned advantages compared to a single-view surveillance system, some multiview surveillance systems, however, may be complicated or costly. It may be desirable to have a method and a system that is able to detect objects and process images in a relatively simple and cost-effective manner in a multiview video system.